Search

Traditional methods for quantifying the internal temperature of marine mammals require handling live animals, which is not practical for free-swimming baleen whales. Developing a less invasive, more repeatable method would significantly improve our understanding of whale health and thermal physiology. Infrared thermography (IRT) devices compatible with remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) have facilitated qualitative assessments of heat signatures from marine mammals at sea, but absolute temperatures derived using this approach are rare. The goal of this study was to develop a precise empirical method for estimating intranasal temperatures of baleen whales using RPAS-based IRT. We conducted controlled field experiments and flights over North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis, NARWs) to develop and test the methodology. Two approaches were evaluated to estimate intranasal temperatures from IRT sensor intensities: a three-point empirical line regression calibrated per flight using known-temperature objects and a generalized linear model incorporating environmental variables. Controlled field experiments demonstrated that the former approach had a median bias of −0.6°C (interquartile range: 1.5ºC), while the latter approach had unexplained negative proportional bias with increasing true temperature of the target object. After accounting for bias, the former approach yielded an average intranasal temperature of 26.9 ± 1.7°C for 21 unique NARWs. The anatomy of the mysticete upper respiratory tract and physiological heat conservation strategies may explain why estimates were low compared to internal temperatures measured from baleen whales using other techniques (30–39ºC). Variability within whales was less than ± 2°C, supporting the use of these methods to monitor the health of individuals over time. However, variability among whales was greater (up to 7ºC). Improvements in our understanding of whale physiology and respiratory mechanics and advancements in RPAS-based IRT calibrations could make this technology more reliable for assessing individual body temperatures and monitoring populations in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Ballistic talus fractures are difficult to treat and there is a paucity of literature regarding the subject. The goal of the current study is to outline our experience and epidemiological findings from a single center with a large case series of ballistic talus fractures. Materials and methods: Institutional Review Board approval was obtained for a retrospective review of skeletally mature patients with ballistic talus fractures from August 2019 to June 2023. Fracture morphology of the talus, the presence of displacement, and the talar declination angle (TDA) were all characterized. Demographic variables were obtained. All complications were recorded. Results: 21 tali were included in this cohort (average age = 26, SD = 9.5). 11 (52%) talus fractures were displaced at initial injury and 17 (81%) had additional fractures of the ipsilateral foot and ankle. 29% (6/21) of tali were treated operatively with fixation: 2 talar body, 2 talar neck, and 2 talar head. TDA improved in patients treated operatively (21.8° pre-operatively, 19.6° post-operatively) but not in those treated non-operatively (24.5° pre-operatively, 25.5° at final follow-up). The overall complication rate was 29% (6/21) including 2 minor complications (superficial wound dehiscence) and 4 major complications: 3 patients with early signs of avascular necrosis (AVN)/collapse and 1 infected non-union. Although we had 3 patients with signs of AVN, one of which was converted to an ankle fusion, all patients were sucessfully treated with limb salvage. Conclusions: The current study offers a unique and previously unreported cohort of gunshot related talar fractures. Our deep infection rate of 4.8% was similar to other studies of closed talus fractures. We found an improvement in the average TDA for the operatively treated fractures, which may represent improvements in fracture reduction with operative fixation. Further studies with longer follow-up are necessary improve our limited understanding of these injuries and to enhance treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematic review examined the effectiveness of violence reduction therapy in detained forensic populations, capturing 23 papers. This demonstrated several themes and a failure to consider individual change alongside group effects. Consequently, the review was followed by evaluation of an aggression therapy program (Life Minus Violence-Enhanced: LMV-E) among adult male forensic patients (n = 26), which considered group and individual treatment change. Collectively, the research demonstrated a positive effect on emotional regulation (anger), with the ability to control and experience this particularly evidenced following therapy. The paper highlights the importance of accounting for individual change and developing theory informed evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Social support (SS) and social isolation (SI) are social determinants of health (SDOH) associated with psychiatric outcomes. In electronic health records (EHRs), individual-level SS/SI is typically documented in narrative clinical notes rather than as structured coded data. Natural language processing (NLP) algorithms can automate the otherwise labor-intensive process of extraction of such information. Materials and Methods Psychiatric encounter notes from Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS, n  = 300) and Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM, n  = 225) were annotated to create a gold-standard corpus. A rule-based system (RBS) involving lexicons and a large language model (LLM) using FLAN-T5-XL were developed to identify mentions of SS and SI and their subcategories (eg, social network , instrumental support , and loneliness). Results For extracting SS/SI, the RBS obtained higher macroaveraged F1-scores than the LLM at both MSHS (0.89 versus 0.65) and WCM (0.85 versus 0.82). For extracting the subcategories, the RBS also outperformed the LLM at both MSHS (0.90 versus 0.62) and WCM (0.82 versus 0.81). Discussion and Conclusion Unexpectedly, the RBS outperformed the LLMs across all metrics. An intensive review demonstrates that this finding is due to the divergent approach taken by the RBS and LLM. The RBS was designed and refined to follow the same specific rules as the gold-standard annotations. Conversely, the LLM was more inclusive with categorization and conformed to common English-language understanding. Both approaches offer advantages, although additional replication studies are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]